Looking at buying a 2nd-hand car. According to the current owner, it was a taxi for 5 years from new, and was then a family car doing pretty low mileage for 4 years. Currently on about 85,000 miles. Seems a bit low? Believable?

Due to complicated circumstances (mostly involving the astronomical price of used cars in France) choice is limited, so I’m fairly keen on it otherwise.

Is the 85k on the first or second spin of the clock?

Digital odometer, but the thought had crossed my mind…

You would easily spot the difference between 85k genuine and 85k second time round!

Sounds possible though, not all taxis do mega miles. Although the ones that don’t never leave the city so are probably worse than “airport cars” that do loads of easy miles on the motorway.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a car with a 5-digit odometer. My 1977 Fiesta, possibly.

Seems too low. Say it did 20k in last 4 years then it would have done 65k in 5 years as a taxi, wouldn’t have thought that was enough to make a living from.

Your average taxi will do 800-1200 miles a week, so 41-62,000 a year. As eskay says, it’s hard to image how that taxi ever earned enough to make somebody a living.

As with any car, though: what condition is the trim? What’s the pedal rubber and driver’s footwell carpet like? The plastic around door switches and air-con controls? The gear-stick gator? The backs of the front seats? Does it look like it’s been used as a taxi? Does it look like it’s been driven 85,000 or 850,000?

Sorry not a chance. Out of interest what is the online MOT recorded mileage?

The interior is in very good nick – in fact, the whole car is in very good condition for 10 years old / 85k, if they hadn’t mentioned the taxi bit I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid.

Its had seat covers and spit/vomit/deadskin galore at somepoint. Its had how nany countless short journeys and its clocked if its been a taxi for FIVE years and even now another five years on its only showing 85k.

Llenty more cars out therr bit even if it did 20k a year for 5yrs. Its actually…how many total?

Your money. I once bought an ex hire car but it was 3yrs old.

When looking for a van some years ago I was convinced the majority had been clocked. New pedal rubbers/ door seals, worn steering wheels, stone chipping, worn seat belts etc. should sound alarm bells. I eventually bought a year-old, ex-hire van with what seemed an honest 62 000km on the clock. Taxis and hire cars with less than 45 000 miles a year should be treated with suspicion and caution.

My buddy found out the hard way – dont buy ex taxi.

His had had 4 2.2dti engine in according to a garage in town that had the stamps.

They produced a record of new engines and a new dash fitted for that car. The owner also had this record was chose not to declare it when sellign as a private deal.

With the paperwork infront of us we worked out that it had done around 500k over the different engines and the dash board did indeed reflect the probably milage on THAT engine …. But the rest of the car had done 500k.

Dodgers.

Perhaps some of the posters here are not appreciating that you’re in the French Alps.

So might it have only been taxi-ing for a few months each year during ski season?

Very unlikely mileage if it were a taxi most places in the UK for five years, obvs.

“Taximan” from my French mtb club sells his taxis at 18 months to two years with 120-150 000km on. The last one was bought by a guy who picked it up from Slovenia. I would guess it was then resold as 18 months old and 50 000km.

buy a new Dacia, OP.

Can you look at the mileages of any other taxi’s used in the same area, work it out from there?

Just a thought, if you do buy/sell used in France Taximan’s advice has helped me. Park the car outside a bank, go in and pay in the cash for the car (the bank staff will check for counterfeit notes). When the seller has the receipt for paying in the cash (and a copy for the buyer) he signs the registration document, and hands over the part for the buyer with the non-gage papers from the prefecture, with the keys.

Perhaps some of the posters here are not appreciating that you’re in the French Alps.

If that’s the case, it may have been useful information to include in the op?

My taxi does about 70,000 miles a year but is out day and night 6 days a week. Most of those miles are in town as well, maybe 1 or 2 airport runs a week in the summer.

Perhaps some of the posters here are not appreciating that you’re in the French Alps.

If that’s the case, it may have been useful information to include in the op?

It is in the OP!

French used car prices are mental compared to the UK. How does €13,000 / £10,500 for a 6 year old Mondeo grab you?

The car in question is a UK car which someone else has brought over and properly switched to French plates. Keeps the price down as nobody French wants a RHD…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geHLdg_VNww[/video]

Flight back to the UK, buy car, drive it back?

Assuming you average 20mph that’s 70 hours a week, Benson.

Assuming you average 20mph that’s 70 hours a week, Benson.

Fairly typical week for a taxi driver.

Right OP you seem to have convinced yourself with your last post. Its your money I suppose. Just think of it as 160, 000Mile car and you’ll be alright..

I know plenty of older taxi drivers who work less than 40hrs a week and do under 20, 000 miles a year. 20mph average !! I wish 14-15mph for me.
Saying that I wouldn’t buy an ex taxi, there’s so many other cars out there why take the risk. Mine get sold only when their tired and starting to cost money.

French used car prices are mental compared to the UK. How does €13,000 / £10,500 for a 6 year old Mondeo grab you?

Is that just because it’s not a French car?

What’s wrong with buying a UK car and reregistering it?

Buy a cheap left hooker in the uk?

Edukator – Troll
Assuming you average 20mph that’s 70 hours a week, Benson.
POSTED 18 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

I am not the only driver using it!

There is no such thing as a cheap left hooker in the UK anymore due to that exact reason

My brother lives in France.
He used to make a nice amount of cash every year by buying a cheap lhd car every time he came to the UK and selling it on out there.
He says those days are long gone, any lhd car in the UK commands big money nowadays.

Buying an ex taxi – not a chance.
I’d walk away and look for another car.

May only have been doing school runs social service runs. There is however a lot of issues at the moment with cars being fitted with CAN blockers which will stop mileage being added. These are readily available on ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-BENZ-W164-W251-X164-B200-CAN-FILTER-BLOCKER-/290828683760?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item43b6bd89f0

I bought an ex taxi, Mercedes 250D out of our local paper for £300, had 450K miles, added another 20K before the exhaust fell off and made it uneconomical to repair, it ran lovely though before that, sold on ebay to some guy taking cars to Latvia for £500. I’d get another like that if the opportunity arose.

What’s wrong with buying a UK car and reregistering it?

It’s expensive – new headlights (to pass French MOT), registration paperwork and Carte Grise (one-off French car tax) will cost about £1000. It might still be the better option though.

Do cars really need new headlights? Passat can be adjusted for driving on the left or right, so unless it’s for some other reason…?

Low milage may not always be good as low/lackof use can caue perishable components to fail.

regardless when buying a car look at:
condition inside and out does it match the age/milage/indicated use
look at the milage and history/recipts/mot’s (or equivilent) have cambelts or major services been done. does it have 4 decent tyres wiht good tread/
How does it start/drive? Any rattles bangs smoke sluggishness? will it start from hot and cold, does it pull to one side when braking or does it need a good shove to stop.

My last car was 9 years old but had actually only done 57k when i bought it and has only needed a new wheelbearing (twice) but i’d reguard that as a genera;l wear and tear consumable.

Do cars really need new headlights? Passat can be adjusted for driving on the left or right, so unless it’s for some other reason…?

Most cars will need new lights for correct dip.

OP was the car a proper private hire taxi? as in the type you find in town on a friday/saturday night waiting to take all the pissheads home after the pubs/clubs shut or was it a contract hire taxi?
the reason i ask is that my cousins husband owns the latter where he does private hire jobs or does contract runs for a number of clients…it keeps his mileage very low and he gets a good living by charging more per mile for exclusive use of his services.
if its the latter then its possible that the mileage could be genuine but if not then its been round the clock a few times

Judge it on merit, if the owner hadn’t mentioned the taxiness you’d not know. I’d be paranoid when checking it but I wouldn’t automatically walk away, if it’s outright shagged it’ll be impossible to hide it completely. My uncle was a minicab driver for a while, I’d snap up one of his old cars- daytime hires twice a week, and beautifully kept inbetween.

Or, I’ll sell you a Mondeo for £1500 and a week’s holiday, and deliver it at the start of the season. To save on the mileage and wear and tear, I’ll deliver it on a breakdown truck.

(that’s only half a joke- if cars are so expensive there, maybe a regular would be up for driving one down? )

across the border?

i found 2nd hand motors to be reasonable in Germany (I know, that is more than just one border…). Italy striked me as being similar.

A local garage owner often has a dozen early T4s on the forecourt. He buys in Germany where they are worthless as they don’t have green umweltplakette.